Although there are plenty of DIY surveillance cameras already out there, MakeUseOf has taken it to the next level with the ability to remotely control its view. This DIY pan tilt camera uses a Raspberry Pi, an Arduino Uno, a pair of servos, and a USB webcam.

The Pi streams video to a webpage and adds a few buttons to move the camera. Due to the lack of the hardware PWM pins, the servos are controlled by the Arduino that is connected to the Pi. Meanwhile, a Python server handles the web interface and commands.

Sound interesting? Be sure to check out the entire build on MakeUseOf’s page here.

Breaking bad habits can be difficult, but developing better ones isn’t so easy either. Mindful of this, former Project Ara founder Dan Makoski and David Khavari have come up with a smart, Arduino-friendly lamp that combines light, encouraging messages and a personal improvement algorithm to help you inch closer to your goal day by day.

Connect Peak to your smartphone using its configuration app and set up a habit you’d like to master–whether that’s exercising, reading more, learning a new instrument, meditating, or spending quality time with loved ones. Simply touch the lamp and it will then send you a motivational text message. It recommends a step towards your target that you’ve either entered yourself or have chosen at Peak’s suggestion. You can schedule reminders if you need that extra little push as well. Once completed, touch it again or text Peak and it’ll record your progress, celebrating with a burst of light.

What’s even cooler is the fact that Makoski and Khavari were fortunate enough to work with whiz kids (and our friends) Cesare Cacitti and Quin Etnyre. Peak was actually prototyped using the Arduino platform and currently runs on Etnyre’s own Qduino Mini. Its creators are also exploring the idea of opening the lamp up so developers and Makers can hack their own projects. We’ll have to wait and see until the end of its crowdfunding campaign!

Looking to form a better habit? Enjoy mini light shows? Then head over to Peak’s Kickstarter page, where you can learn more about the product, the philosophy and the entire design process.

As its name would suggest, the LittleArm is a mini 3D-printed robot that began as a weekend project. Its creator Gabe Bentz wanted a small arm that was easy to work with, and one that wouldn’t require him to dig deep into his wallet. So, as any Maker would do, he decided to design his own low-cost device.

After showing the LittleArm off, it wasn’t before long that he was approached by some STEM teachers in the area who wondered if the kit was something they could use in their classrooms. Ideally, every student should have one to tinker with, but unfortunately today’s systems tend to be too expensive and quickly loose parts and pieces. This is a problem that LittleArm is looking to solve.

The arm is powered by an Arduino Uno and four identical metal-geared micro servos, while all other mechanical components are 3D-printed. There’s also a modular gripper that’s actuated by a servo along with rigid end-effectors for various tasks. What’s more, a basic GUI enables you to control the arm, its gripper, the speed, as well as use its record function to train the robot to perform a specific task and then watch it play out the sequence.

The entirely open-source gadget comes as a DIY kit that can be purchased or built from scratch. Want one of your own? Check out Bent’z Kickstarter page here, and see the LittleArm in action below (including some of its dance moves).

If you live with your family, a significant other or a few roommates, and you’re looking for a fun prank to drive them nuts, Connor Nishijima has the perfect trick for you: an Arduino cricket. Unlike actual crickets that are relatively consistent with the sounds they make, this one is a far cry from that. Instead, the Maker’s project will chirp for a brief second, and then go into a deep sleep for a random amount of time between three minutes and three hours. As you could imagine, this can make the source of the noise extremely difficult to pinpoint!

Nishijima combined the JeeLib library for reducing current consumption and his new library for 8-bit volume control to bring the insanely annoying “cricket” to life using nothing more than a speaker, a 7800mAh USB battery, and an Arduino. The best part? He estimates that the setup has enough juice to last for months, if not years. In his case, he enclosed the electronics within a box along with some magnets, then placed it in his vent to mess with his buddy.

For the lowest current comsumption with minimal effort, I’ll be using a 16MHz Arduino Pro Micro with a few power-hog components like the power LED desoldered. Unfortunately, the PWM speeds needed for my Volume lib only work well at 16MHz so far, so using 8MHz to conserve power is out.

However, the awesome battery calculator at Oregon Embeddedtells me that at 16mA “awake” current and 200uA “asleep” current (being asleep more than 95% of the time) this should last more than three years. Of course, the battery itself will have some drain involed with it’s circuitry, but even a FOURTH of the estimated battery life still puts us at almost a full year which is good enough for me, and bad enough for my friend.

Those wishing to give this prank a try can check out Nishijima’s videos below, as well as his code on GitHub.

Maker and astronomy enthusiast Görkem Bozkurt has built a GoTo telescope mount-inspired system that points and tracks any object in the sky using its celestial coordinates. The aptly named Star Track sports a 3D-printed structure along with a pair of Arduinos (an Uno and Nano), a gyroscope, an RTC module, two low-cost 5V stepper motors, and a laser pointer.

Many computerized telescopes have a type of telescope mount and related software which can automatically point a telescope to astronomical objects that the user selects. Called GoTo mounts. Like a standard equatorial mount, equatorial GoTo mounts can track the night sky by driving the right-ascension axis. Since laser pointers are a perfect way to point stars, I thought a laser pointer with a GoTo mount would be a perfect tool for locating stars and to track them.

First I had to design a two-axis mount.

1. 360-degree rotating axis for RA
2. A up-down axis for DEC

After aligning the RA axis with the North Celestial Pole, an Arduino connected with an RTC should be able to calculate and track RA with sidereal time. And you can adjust the two axes to the user input from a computer via serial.

But first I had to find a way to precisely point the mount to given degrees. The main idea was to use step motors and give them a specific step to take. But after a few tests that was not totally accurate.

Instead, I used a gyroscope placed on the laser pointer to track the degrees on the two axes, this way I was able to send a command to the step motor to start and stop the movement if necessary.

Intrigued? Bozkurt provides a basic overview of positional astronomy on his project page, along with all of Star Track’s 3D files, code and assembly instructions.

GitHub user Sanni has created a Nintendo cartridge and save game reader shield for the Arduino Mega.

The ROM gets saved to an SD card. You can also read/write save files to the SRAM, display information about the cartridge on a 0.96″ 128X64 OLED LCD, and calculate the checksum of your ROM dump. You control it using the push button–one click moves the selection down, a double-click moves it up, and a long press executes the current menu option.

As the Maker explains, this shield:

• Reads SNES ROMs and reads/writes save games from and to the SNES cartridge–supported types include: LoRom, HiRom, ExHiRom, SuperFX, SuperFX2, SA1 (can’t write save back to SA1)
• Read/writes SFC Nintendo Power cartridges
• Reads N64 ROMs and reads/writes save games (4K/16K EEPROM + SRAM + Flash RAM)
• Reads/writes N64 Controller Paks and also can test a N64 controller
• Programs Flash ROMs like 29F016, 29F032, 29F033, 29F1610 and 29L3211 (needs 3.3V)

Product designer Eduard Puertas continues to impress us with his makeshift motion control projects. Recently, the animation enthusiast had come across a broken HP printer on the street; rather than let it be picked up by the garbage truck, he decided to repurpose it into a MOCO slider for stop motion and time-lapse photography.

Aside from the printer’s mechanical parts, Puertas used an Arduino Uno, some stepper drivers, and Dragonframe software to bring his idea to life. You can see the end result below!

Some people drive their car to work. Some walk. Others ride their bike. Well, in Nick Thatcher’s case, he prefers to hop on his own electric unicycle. The serial creator of self-balancing vehicles has just completed his latest project, dubbed  “Plan-B.”

Unlike his other builds, this time Thatcher set out to make Plan-B a true “commuter” unicycle with the utmost portability–boasting a foldable design, a handle on its rear for easy carrying, and a LiFePo4 battery to keep it lightweight.

His newly-constructed personal transport is equipped with a 24V 350W geared motor and a SyRen 50A motor controller, along with an Arduino Uno and an IMU to help maintain the cycle’s stability. Beyond that, Plan-B uses a wheelbarrow wheel with a chain drive from the motor.

Watch Thatcher commute in style below!

The NES was one of, if not, the first gaming consoles most of us ever played. That’s why we were all pretty excited to hear Nintendo’s recent plans of releasing the NES Classic Mini. As great as it sounds, though, turns out it’ll only support its 30 pre-loaded games–no Internet downloads, nor any cartridge slots. But leave it to a Maker to come up with a solution! Enter DaftMike, who has built his own shrunken-down, 3D-printed version of the retro system complete with some of the features we all would’ve loved to see with Nintendo’s re-creation.

The DIY system–which is 40% the size of the original–is powered by a Raspberry Pi and an Arduino. It runs on RetroPie emulation software and uses itsy-bitsy NFC tagged cartridges, ranging from Super Mario Bros. to Zelda. When a cartridge is inserted into the machine’s fully-functional slot, an NFC reader scans it, selects that specific game from the Pi’s internal memory, and boots it up onto the screen.

I designed the connections between the Arduino and Pi to use the top 10 GPIO pins so I could mount the Arduino directly to the Raspberry Pi using a 2×5 header. All the electronics would then sit in the case behind the USB ports.

The NFC reader mounts underneath the cartridge tray connected to the Arduino with a piece of flat cable. There’s enough length on it for the case halves to be splayed apart if I need to dismantle the unit and the Arduino ‘lump’ unplugs from the Pi so I can update the ‘firmware.’

DaftMike even rounded out his incredibly-realistic design with a mini, Arduino Pro Micro-based controller–although probably a bit too small for adult hands. (Cool nevertheless!)

In terms of software, an Arduino sketch is used to read the NFC tags and manage the power switching, while a Python script running on the Raspberry Pi is tasked with launching the games. The two communicate over serial.

Those wishing to spark some childhood gaming nostalgia should check out Daftmike’s entire blog post, which provides a full rundown of the build and its inner workings.

As part of a school project, Bruce Helsen built a dual-axis tracker for optimizing solar panel use during his time as exchange student in Finland. Although adding a tracking system to a larger installation isn’t really a cost-effective option, it can certainly come in handy for smaller units.

Helsen’s dual-axis tracker works by making sure that the two 12V 150W solar panels stay aligned with the sun for as long as possible, measuring the panels’ voltage and current then calculating the generated power and energy, and sending that data from the monitor to ThingSpeak. There’s also an LCD to display the readings.

The panel’s two axes are controlled by a pair of inexpensive linear actuators. It uses an Arduino Mega for a brain, and an ESP8266 for transmitting the data over to the cloud. Light direction is detected by a homemade light sensor housed inside an industrial lamp enclosure. A 3D-printed crossbeam separates the sensor into four quadrants, with a light-dependent resistor for each. By comparing the average LDR values, the panel is able to point in the best direction.

Looking to monitor your solar energy? Check out Helsen’s project page here.